November Random KIT: I told it my way

Image: Woman writing at a desk by an unknown artist (Stecher) - Herzog August Bibliothek, Germany - CC BY-SA.
https://www.europeana.eu/item/168/item_KFZOYLB5XW52BVOEAML3FXTAKWEXOVD4

This month the challenge is to read a book written in the first person. It can be fiction or non-fiction, meaning an autobiography, memoirs, a travelogue or a diary. Or maybe something completely different? Surprise us!
Many fiction authors are famous for making use of this narrative form, giving us unforgettable characters. You’re invited to read Jane Eyre, Robinson Crusoe, Rebecca, Mary Stewart’s Merlin books, David Copperfield, the Marcus Didius Falco series, the Elvis Cole private eye stories, the Dresden Files, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Remains of the Day and numerous others. See the tag list for more ideas: https://www.librarything.com/tag/first%20person

Tell us what you read and if you’re so inclined, add your choice to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_RandomKIT

I notice The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King is on the tag list, so I may take that off the ebook TBR list.

I am planning on reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green for another challenge and I see it is also on the tag list so it will be my choice for this challenge as well.

I'm planning to read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.

I can recommend: Night by Elie Wiesel and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs.

Our book club is reading The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin for our November meeting and since it's a memoir, I'm hoping it will be written in the first person.

I have set up the 2025 Category Challenge group here: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24518/2025-Category-Challenge. Feel free to stop by anytime, start suggesting CATs and KITs, and post your threads for the 2025 challenge!

(I'm posting this notification to a bunch of threads, so sorry if you see it multiple times!)

I've only just found this thread, and am, completely co-incidentally, listening to Venus in Copper, the third in the Marcus Didius Falco series. So that's that covered. >:-)

I'm hoping to read As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee for this one.

I read A Christmas Sonata by Gary Paulsen, which I read many years ago with my middle school students.

2025 RandomKIT Planning thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365459#n8659404

I finished The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault.

If you haven't yet visited the 2025 Category Challenge group, come on over! CAT and KIT discussion is in progress, and we're going to start voting on Wednesday, November 6. So if you'd like to suggest a CAT or KIT for next year, check out the discussion and make your proposals here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365087.

I'm posting this several places in the 2024 group, so my apologies if you see it a bunch of times!

And my second book of the month is also first person: My Murder by Katie Williams.

Carnegie's Maid / Marie Benedict
3.5 stars

Clara Kelly has come to the US from Ireland. When she gets off the boat, she is mistaken for another Clara Kelly and ends up in a much better place than she otherwise would have been – as a lady’s maid to Mrs. Carnegie (yes, Andrew Carnegie’s mother). She quickly learns what she needs to know to make her way and falls for Mrs. Carnegie’s oldest son, Andrew. Clara, though a farmer’s daughter in Ireland, was well-read, thanks to her father, and is smart. She and Andrew have some good conversations, including business conversations and fall for each other, though Clara, especially, tries to fight her feelings.

I liked this. I listened to the audio and had no problem following what was going on. In the author’s note at the end, we learn that Clara was, of course, a fictional character, as the author wanted to imagine what might have changed him from the business tycoon he was to the philanthropist he became (paying for libraries and museums that anyone could enjoy), regardless of monetary wealth or social class.

Finished Four thousand weeks by Oliver Burkeman.

Last June I picked up this lovely diary at a library sale (for $1!): A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. This is a facsimile of a real diary that Edith Holden kept of her nature walks and thoughts in 1906. It is organized by months, with several pages of text and brilliant nature illustrations for each month that Holden observed on her walks. Here are 2 sample pages from November:


(not my picture--copied online)

Since I bought the book in June, I've read each current month's entry. So I won't finish this book until next May, but thought I would share it here.

>16 kac522: - I have that book on my TBR pile. I got it from my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. I like your idea of reading a month each month. I think I'll start in January.

I finished reading The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin.. It was for out book club this month and we had a good discussion. When I started the book, I wasn't sure if I'd even finish it., but the more I read, the better it got.

I read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. It was the selection for one of my RL book clubs this month, and it is written in first person, so fits the challenge. I enjoyed it.

Today (Sunday, November 10) is the last day for voting on the 2025 CATs, so if you haven't voted yet, you can do so here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365087. See message #73 and following. Again, cross-posting in many places, so sorry if you see this message multiple times.

I finished Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis

I finished and really enjoyed Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel which was told in first person, and she was definitely a character who did things her way.
The two books that I started today also both happen to be first person narrations: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak.

I have just read The Merry Men and Olalla by Robert Louis Stevenson. These are short stories written in the first person.

Just finished Poirot and Me by David Suchet.
David Suchet as Poirot is a perfect fit. He played the part in all of Christie’s works in the television series that was filmed over 25 years. A fantastic accomplishment. He - and Christie’s daughter - were determined that he should play the part faithfully, without making a comic character of Poirot. Early in his preparation he realized he and Poirot had more in common than previously realized. In this memoir Suchet describes each of the plots and his experiences, which were probably too much and too repetitive for anyone other than a Christie devotee. The repetition became annoying.

I have always admired Suchet as Poirot and watched most of the episodes, if not all, but I ended up speeding through some of the chapters, especially the ones describing the parts he played in between. Typical of biography written by actors, the description of the parts he played were accompanied by what amounted to a credits list with a summary of the accomplishments of each person: directed by blah blah who was the brilliant director of the famous television series blah blah….

I have completed my read of The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

I finished The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate which was so good and decided to DNF The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak.

December RandomKIT is posted.

Starting Finished Business by David Wishart, a mystery set in Ancient Rome, narrated in the first person by Marcus Corvinus.

Anthem by Ayn Rand certainly fits this category. The tale is told by Equality 7-2521, the protagonist of this dystopian novel.

I read The Only Light left Burning, which is told from two viewpoints, in alternate chapters.

I read October, October for the November PrizeCAT, but realised once I started that it was in 1st person so fits here too. It was great.

>27 Robertgreaves: Continuing with the next in the series Trade Secrets

COMPLETED Finished Business and Trade Secrets, both by David Wishart and told in the first person by Marcus Corvinus

Finished The Flatshare which would fit for this category as well.

I have finished Meine Kinderjahre where Theodor Fontane looks back on his childhood years in Swinemünde on the Baltic Sea, where he lived from 1827-1832.

I've read Fried Eggs With Chopsticks by Polly Evans. First published in 2006, it's a travelogue of the authors solo trip through China.

I read Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret, which is narrated by sleuth Ernie Cunningham.

What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley
I’ve relished this series starring Flavia de Luce but not sure why this one didn’t appeal as much. The reason might have something to do with Flavia approaching adulthood, which would be the end of the delightful character. Sorry to say, her protege, Undine, will never meet the height of appeal that Flavia achieved.

I finished two books in the first person in the last couple of days. Both were fun and engaging and (mostly) new to me.


The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892) is told in the first person as a memoir of Dr John Watson about his great detective friend. I had read one or two of the stories before, but that was many lifetimes ago. I listened to these on audiobook and they make great listening, as there is so much dialogue in the stories.


All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (1972) is the wonderful memoir of a Yorkshire vet. I devoured it in a few days, and I'm not an animal person at all. It's as much about the people and the place, as it is about the animals, I think. How I have not read this book before, I don't know, but I will definitely be going on with the series. What a delight!

>38 kac522: I'm so glad you liked All Creatures Great and Small. I read the series years ago, twice I think, and I loved all of the books. They're a comfort read. I may need to revisit them myself soon. I'm sure you'll enjoy the entire series.

>39 atozgrl: I have to admit that I was inspired by the current TV series to read the books. They're different, of course, but that's OK. I love both.

>40 kac522: The original TV series stuck closer to the stories in the books. The new series is good, but I still like the original better. YMMV. But the books are great, no matter what's on either series.

I read The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison, which is sort of a slice-of-life first-person fantasy mystery.

I've read a second memoir, Lost and Found in Spain: Tales of an Ambassador's Wife by Susan Solomont. Not one I can recommend.

I read My Murder by Katie Williams for this month's challenge

I have also finished Two for the lions where Marcus Didius Falco tells us about his investigation in first person, in true private eye fasion.

Starting Mariam Sharma Hits The Road by Sheba Karim, which I didn't realise was told in the first person.

COMPLETED Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim, where "I" is the titular Mariam Sharma.

Stars Between the Sun and Moon / Lucia Jang
3.5 stars

The author grew up in North Korea but soon learned she wanted out. She went through abusive relationships, two children (one who was sold, not by her choice), landed in jail more than once, went back and forth between China, and more. Eventually, she got out for good and made her way to Canada.

I listened to the audio. Unfortunately, that meant it was a while before I got interested. And it was interesting (and awful for her) once it was holding my attention, but I’d already missed a bunch of what was going on by that point, and I continued to lose focus at times. You could say there were some technical issues with the audio that didn’t help, but it’s hard to say if that would have made a difference in the rating or not. I actually thought I caught more than I did, but in reading some of the other reviews, I guess I missed more than I thought, even.

I finished The dark Tourist which is written in the first person

I have finished another book that fits this challenge: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. The protagonist tells about his service as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during WWI and about his love affair with a British nurse.

I listened to Dying of Politeness by Geena Davis. This well-known actress and women's advocate came from a working class family and she traces the impact of her upbringing throughout her career.

I finished The Provincial Lady in London by E. M. Delafield (1932), the second book in her Diary of a Provincial Lady series. Like the first book, this book is in diary format. The Provincial Lady has sold her first book and now has a little money to spend, so she decides to rent a flat in London, where she can occasionally flee from her husband, kids and house to do some writing. It's very funny and was a quick read.

This was a great theme, Birgit! Thank you!

>52 kac522: You selected one of my "go to" comfort reads. I greatly enjoy the Diary of a Provincial Lady series and have read them all at least once. They rank right up there for me with the Miss Read books.

>53 LadyoftheLodge: Yes, this was a re-read for me; I read library copies all of the books some years ago, including Provincial Daughter by her daughter. Last year I found both Diary of a Provincial Lady and The Provincial Lady in London at a library sale in perfect condition, which I couldn't pass up. I re-read the first book last year and now this one. I'm amazed at how much I laughed right out loud with both books. I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison, but these books remind me in a way of the newspaper columns of Erma Bombeck, back in the 1970s & 1980s.

I'm tempted to re-read the rest of the series from the library.

I have finished Life among the Savages where Shirley Jackson remembers the times when her children were young. One of the best reads this year!

And I also finished a short historical mystery where a monk of the 8th century writes a letter to a fellow monk and tells him about his mission as a king's justice in Saxony: Saxnot stirbt nie. It was much better than I expected.

I listened to Unrequited by Martha Keyes, a Regency romance narrated in the first person.